Telephone-call register.



No. 654,ll2. Patented July l7, I900. W. GRAY.

TELEPHONE CALL REGISTER.

(Application filed Sept. 17, 1898.)

(No Model.)

Tm: Nonms Pzrzns m. PNDTO-LITNQ, WASHINIGTON, n. c,

UNITED STATES PATENT Trice.

WILLIAM GRAY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

TELEPHONE-CALL REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 654,112, dated July 17, 1900. Application filed September 17, 1898. Serial No. 691,173. (No model.)

To alZwhom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM GRAY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Telephone-Gall Registers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, whereby any one skilled in the art can make and use the same.

My invention relates to the class of telephones constructed in a manner to enable the collection of a toll for each time the apparatus is used; and the object of my invention is to provide a device of this class in which a record of each use of the telephone shall be made before the instrument is used.

To this end my invention consists in the device as a whole, in the combination of parts, and in the details and their combination, as hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of a set of telephone instruments embodying my improvement. Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation of the register-box on an enlarged scale. Fig. 3 is a side View of the same on an enlarged scale. Fig. at is a detail top view of the device on an enlarged scale, with the top wall of the casing broken away to show the interior mechanism. Fig. 5 is a detail front View of the registering mechanism. Fig. 6 is a detail side view of the main, register, showing its connection with the barrel.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter a denotes a backboard; b, a battery-box; c, the coil-box; d, the transmitter; e, the magnetobells, and f the receiver of a set of telephone instruments.

Prior to my invention it has been customary in the use of telephones of this class to employ a token which is inserted in a slot leading to the toll-box, this token sounding an alarm and indicating to the central office the fact that it has been deposited in the box. In the place of tokens coins have also been used. By the use of my invention I haveprovided means whereby the employment of a token or coin is dispensed with; but a record iskept of each time that the telephone is used and the central office notified that the record has been made. A device embodying such an improvement is shown and described herein,

the letter g denoting the register-box as a whole. This box consists of a back plate 9', having a casing g closed by a cover or front plate 9 This box or casing c, as a whole, is preferably formed of metal, the back g being constructed to make an intimate contact with the coil-box c. flange g from the back is provided with notches 9 adapted to receive the screws or bolts employed to secure the coil-box to the backboard a, these bolts or screws thus serving the double purpose of securing the reg,

ister-box and the coil-box and at the same time insuring the intimate union or engagement of the two parts. By this construction and arrangement of parts a complete metallic bridge is formed between the signal and the transmitting parts of the telephone, whereby the sound created by the vibration of the sig nal is clearly transmitted to the transmitter and to the central office. v

A support his secured to one side of the register-box, extending across the box from side to side, and on the upper edge of this support is secured a main register 2'. This register may be of any well-known form and construction, whereby the rotation of. the parts successively brings into view the characters denoting the number of rotations of the different dials of the register. The central arbor of the main register extends outside of its case and is provided with a boss '6, having an arm 2' extending therefrom. This register may be of any well-known form; but an ordinary cyclometer is preferably used, and in this form the relation of the arbor t" to the units-wheel of the register is as one to one hundred and forty-that is, to secure onetenth of a revolution of the units-wheel, which is required to change its indications, it is necessary to turn the arbor t" through four-' teen complete revolutions. This of course is accomplished through suitable gearing or like mechanism, which is well known in the art.

By using the primary register it is possible to use a cyclometer of ordinary pattern, which affords a very cheap and serviceable construction. A further advantage resides in mounting the primary register within view of the operator, where only a limited number of calls are indicated, the main register In the form shown a.

being obscured and recording the total number of calls made from time to time.

The barrel 7a of a lock of any Well-known form is secured in the cover y the cylinder of the lock extending outward and bearing a trip 7c, adapted to engage the arm 2' to rotate the latter in the turning movement of the cylinder, as by means of a key Z. A primary register is mounted on the support h, this register consisting of a ratchet-wheel m, having on its face, arranged in a circle, characters denoting the number of teeth on the ratchet. A pawl 71 is mounted on a rocking lever 0, pivoted on the support h, the pawl being secured to one end of the lever, and the opposite end of the lever is located in position to be engaged by the trip in the rotating movement of the cylinder. Each engagement of the trip 70 with the lever 0 rotates the ratchet m a one-tooth space, a spring 0 returning the lever to its normal position and a catch m holding the ratchet from any reverse movement.

A hammer-lever p is mounted on the support h, one end of the lever being located in the path of movement of the trip It and the opposite end of the lever bearing a hammer p, adapted to strike the gong q, a spring 10 serving to pull the hammer-lever to throw the hammerp against the gong when it has moved away from the gong by the engagement of the trip 7c.

In the form of device herein shown the gong g is mounted on a sounder r, secured to the support h.

The main register may be secured to the support in any manner, a preferred means consisting of a bracket 3, secured to the face of the support h, this bracket being shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

In the operation of the device the key Z is inserted in the aperture in the barrel 7:; and given a complete rotation. In this rotating movement the trip k engages the arm 6 giving it a complete rotation. In the rotating movement the trip-arm engages the lever 0, rotating the primary register on a one-tooth space and then by contact with the arm 79 causes the gong q to be sounded. In the de vice shown fourteen successive movements of the ratchet m are required to rotate the main register one step or to show each successive character thereon.

From the within description and illustration it will be seen that a cyclometer of wellknown form and construction may be readily utilized as a main register, the rotating movement of the key being transmitted directly to the register to rotate the parts in one direction only. This main register of course keeps a continuous record of the number of calls made on the instrument and is placed in an inconspicuous position, While the dial m is arranged within full view of the operator and serves as a visual signal, showing when the 65 register has been operated. A further advantage of this arrangement of the two independent but cooperative registers resides in the increased number of calls that can be recorded in a main register having a small number of register-dia1s. For instance, in the device shown and described herein a single call rotates the dial m one of the fourteen steps, and while the main register is being operated the figure l of said register will not appear until the secondary register n has been moved a complete revolution or has made fourteen steps. It is obvious that the number recorded on the main register must be multiplied by fourteen to find the number of calls actually made. Thus a register, say, of five dials which would ordinarily record ninety nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine calls, if used as shown herein, would be available for fourteen times this number of calls.

I claim as my invention 1. In combination in a registering device, a pair of registers, one a primary, for indicating the successive calls, the other a main register for recording the total number of calls, a barrel of a lock provided with means adapted to rotate the spindle of one of said regis ters, and means for operating the other of said registers by a step-by-step movement during the rotation of the spindle of the first-named register.

2. In combination in aregistering device, a barrel of a lock adapted to receive and be operated by a key, a pair of registers mounted in operative relation to said lock-barrel the spindle of one of said registers being rotated upon rotation of the key and lock-barrel, the other register adapted to be intermittently operated during the rotation of the spindle of the first-named register and an alarm whose striker lies in the path of movement of the register-operating mechanism and is adapted to be tripped after a register has been moved.

3. In combination with the transmitting part of a telephone apparatus, an alarm so mounted as to have metallic connection with the transmitter, a registering device comprising a pair of registers each having dials, one register adapted to show a record of the calls in the higher orders of figures, the other adapted to show and record the intermediate calls, a key-operated mechanism for operating both of the registers, and mechanism for sounding the alarm adapted to be engaged by the register-operating mechanism.

l/VILLIAM GRAY.

WVitnesses:

ARTHUR B. JENKINS, WILLIAM H. BARKER. 

